Nov 23, 2016

#REVIEW: Archangel's Heart (Guild Hunter #9) by Nalini Singh

New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh takes us into a dangerous and exhilarating world where a deadly, beautiful archangel and his once-mortal consort are caught in a fury of twisted darkness…

One of the most vicious archangels in the world has disappeared. No one knows if Lijuan is dead or has chosen to Sleep the long sleep of an immortal. But with her lands falling into chaos under a rising tide of vampiric bloodlust, a mysterious and ancient order of angels known as the Luminata calls the entire Cadre together to discuss the fate of her territory.

Accompanying her archangelic lover Raphael to the Luminata compound, guild hunter-turned-angel Elena senses that all is not as it seems. Secrets echo from within the stone walls of the compound, and the deeper Elena goes, the uglier the darkness. But neither Raphael nor Elena is ready for the brutal truths hidden within—truths that will change everything Elena thinks she knows about who she is…

Nothing will ever be the same again.

*** REVIEW ***RATING: 3/5 stars

I don't know what's up with me this year since I've rated quite a few of the newest and most expected installments of most of my favorite series with 3 stars. Blasphemy, I know!

Never thought that the day will come I'll rate Singh's Guild Hunter series lower than 4 stars, but that day has come people and I can not lie. Unfortunately, I'll have to agree with other readers who said that this book was more of a "filler" and while I did like it, it didn't blow my mind like the rest of the books in the series. I did crave this installment to be Bluebell's & Sparkle's story and was a bit disappointed we've got Elena & Raphael again instead, but the main reason for my rating is:

~ the slow pacing/dragging of the story at the beginning and towards the end which made me want to skip pages. IMO, the author resolved the main mystery in an antclimatic way and I've found the behaviour of some important characters considering their past unrealistic. And there was too little Bluebell/Illium, damn it!:(

I won't say anything else about that, because there would be spoilers. The things I loved on the other hand are our lovely and fierce consort Elena & her archangel Raphael who are still in the honeymoon phase, of course not to forget our beautiful Sparkle/ Aodhan who had an important role in this installment (yessss!) and the new creepy characters known as the Luminata (w.t.f. O.O)

No matter my rating, this series still remains one of my top urban fantasy series out there and I highly recommend it to every uf reader out there. The next book is again included in my most expected reads of 2017 list. Will I finally get my Bluebell's & Sparkle's story? It remains to be seen.*fingers crossed*

4 comments:

This happens to me sometimes. I get disappointed again and again by authors I trust. The new Mercy Thompson is the latest example. I haven't made it far with this series but I liked it. Perhaps I should make a new effort to read it.